Advertisement
Published: June 19th 2018
On July 9, 1716 Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches was chartered as a Spanish mission for the Native Americans called the Caddo Nacogdoche. Father Antonio Margil de Jesus was in charge of this mission and other missions in East Texas. Around that time the Spanish were founding other Native American missions, but Nacogdoches turned into the first permanent settlement and later grew to a town.
On July 9, 2016 Nacogdoches had a re-dedication festival to celebrate the event at their Festival Park. Since Nacogdoches has no TV station, there was no advertisement to inform the East Texans to this event; so only about 50 people attended. That was OK with me. It was 95 degrees F and 95 % relative humidity there so many sat under the trees for shade a short distance from the event except me and other attendees.
First the Spanish and Native Americans marched to to festival site. The priests performed a formal Mass in English, Latin, and Spanish. During the Mass the Monks would sing beautiful songs; and the head Monk would raise his arm to let us know it was time for us to sing along with him. Later it was
time for Communion; me not being Catholic I did not receive the Communion.
After Mass the Spanish Captain soldier read the mission charter. Then he led his squad to fire three salvos of black power from their rifles. (I love the smell of black powder in the afternoon.)
Then it was time for the ringing of the brass bells to conclude the event. We had a photo opp with the large cast of Spanish (and Native Americans). Those participants remained for photos and to speak informally with us.
Since 1716 Nacogdoches slowly turned into a settlement. In 1779 Antonio Gil Y'Barbo declared Nacogdoches a town. That gives historical merit that Nacogdoches was founded in 1779.
Antonio Gil Y'Barbo had the Old Stone House built on what is now the North side of Nacogdoches Square. Later the name was changed to the Old Stone Fort now re-constructed at Stephen F Austin State University (SFASU) with the original stone from the house. The Old Stone Fort played a part long ago in the effort to make Tejas independent from Mexico.
After the festival I had unfinished business at the nearby Cole Art Center; first built as the
Nacogdoches Opera. I found that I won first place in their photo contest, under the category of nature, with my pic (shot in Costa Rica) of a battle to the death between a big spider and a big wasp. (Hint: the wasp won, and the spider was dinner.) Since I won $50 USD, I am now a professional photographer.
Completed
Advertisement
Tot: 0.213s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0922s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Odiseya
Odiseya
Welcome to the Travelblog!
I am happy to read a new blog from you about your town!